| Al Schwimmer | |
| Birth Date: | 10 June 1917 |
| Birth Place: | New York City, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Ramat Gan, Israel |
| Occupation: | Aerospace engineer, aerospace executive |
| Known For: | Founder of Israel Aerospace Industries (formerly Bedek Aviation Company) |
| Awards: | Israel Prize (2006) |
| Spouse: | Rina Schwimmer |
| Children: | 2 |
| Relatives: | David Schwimmer (grandchild) |
Adolph William Schwimmer (Hebrew: אל שווימר; June 10, 1917 – June 10, 2011) was an American and later Israeli Mahal operative, engineer, and businessman. He was the founder and first CEO of Israel Aerospace Industries.
In 1917, Schwimmer was born in New York City, the son of immigrants from Eastern Europe. Schwimmer never used his given birth name of Adolph, preferring the nickname "Al".[1]
In 1939, Schwimmer began his aerospace career at Lockheed Corporation as an engineer and also received his civilian pilot license. During World War II, he worked for TWA and assisted the U.S. Air Transport Command as a flight engineer.[2]
During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Schwimmer became a Mahal operative, using his World War II experience and his contacts to smuggle surplus war planes to Israel in violation of a UN arms embargo.[3] [4] [5] Schwimmer reflected on what motivated these actions in an interview with Boaz Dvir. The alternative was described as a "Second Holocaust [...] they believed that those 600,000 Jews were going to die."[6] Using circuitous routes, he also recruited the pilots and crews to fly the planes to Israel. Many of these men became the nucleus of the Israeli Air Force.
While smuggling these Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses from Czechoslovakia, the Israeli Air Force killed Egyptian civilians in its bombardment of a residential neighborhood near Qasr al-Qubba in Cairo on July 15, 1948, during the international phase of the 1948 Palestine war.[7] [8] [9]
In 1949, Schwimmer returned to the United States and, in 1950, he was convicted in the United States of violating the US Neutrality Acts for smuggling the planes into Israel. Schwimmer was stripped of his voting rights and veteran benefits and fined $10,000, but did not receive a prison sentence. Schwimmer refused to ask for a pardon, believing that smuggling weapons to help create Israel was the right moral decision to make. In 2001, President Bill Clinton gave Schwimmer a presidential pardon.[5]
In the early 1950s, Schwimmer, who was running an aircraft maintenance company in Burbank, California, was approached by David Ben-Gurion, Israel's then prime minister, who asked Schwimmer to return to Israel and establish an aircraft company for commercial and military purposes. Schwimmer acceded to Ben Gurion's request and founded Israel Aerospace Industries, of which he became the first CEO.[2] Sam Lewis, a former codefendant, worked for him as a pilot and consultant and helped set up several airlines in Europe, Asia, and South America.[10]
Schwimmer was one of the founders of Savyon, but later moved to Tel Aviv.[11]
In the mid-1980s, Schwimmer was a special adviser for technology and industry for Israel's then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who became a close friend.[5]
Schwimmer was married and had two children, Danny and Dafna, as well as four grandchildren, Orr, Ella, Sarah, and Avi. On June 10, 2011, Schwimmer died on his 94th birthday in a hospital in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv District, Israel.[12]
In 2015, his exploits during 1948 Arab–Israeli War were depicted in the PBS documentary A Wing and a Prayer, written, directed, and produced by Boaz Dvir. The film contains the only public interview Schwimmer gave in light of these events.[13]